17 to Life
by ReneyyySprouse
Summary: They were always destined to travel down separate paths. They always knew they were eventually going to have deal with their own problems alone. But sometimes, no matter how brave the face or how strong the mind - certain situations simply outdo the wisdom of your years.
1. Introduction

**Hello out there to all the inner children who - like my inner child - continue to be completely smitten with all things Zack and Cody :)**

 **Before we dive into this story, I just thought I'd provide you with a bit of background info. For those of you who don't know me - hey! My name is Reney, and I started writing Suite Life stories waaaay back in 2008.**

 **If you hapened to be around and reading some of my stuff in about 2009, you may remember a story I started to write entitled _Not Afraid_. I got about four or five chapters into that story before I put it on hiatus, my passion for it slowly continued to fizzle out, and then I ultimately deleted it from my profile.**

 **In saying that - I would like to finally welcome you to the official re-write of the idea that my then sixteen year old self though up all those years ago, newly titled _17 To Life._**

 **There's a couple of different reasons why I decided to resurrect this story and give it a more sincere shot. For one thing, after having spent a lot of time recently re-watching Zack and Cody, and On Deck, I basically felt an insane desire to write a story for this fandom again. Second of all, I was having a bit of trouble trying to come up with a totally new story idea until I remembered I still had all my old files backed up and just waiting to be investigated into and opened again. And thirdly, I definitely feel like at twenty-three now I've grown as both a writer and as a person and will be able to tackle some of the more serious issues laced throughout this story with a much more realistic and mature approach.**

 **I'm certainly not making any promises about how quickly I'll be able to churn out regular chapter updates for this story ;) But I can assure you that I feel much more committed to it this time around and my definite goal is to see it through and complete it.**

 **Through re-branding it and re-working the parts that I've already written - it's going to be a hell of a lot more enjoyable for me to write and for you to read now than what it would have been seven years ago :)**

 **Thank you in advanced for reading, and I hope you have the best time coming on this journey with me!**

 **Reneyyyyyyy x**


	2. Back to Basics

'You know they say that nothing lasts forever,  
You know they said we'd never stay together,  
It's a long way down,  
Can't turn back now.'  
 _ **Life Changes - Good Charlotte**_

 _-x-_

 **Chapter One - Back to Basics.**

Darkness had completely taken over. It laid his path in every direction that he turned. The space around him was limited, close and airless. An eerie creaking noise was all that could be heard each time he moved, even in the slightest. It may have been a long while now since he had found himself in a situation like this, but he never remembered it being this daunting or this much of a challenge.

Zack's heart began pounding loudly in his chest. He swore that he could hear it echoing against each of the four walls that surrounded him. A single bead of nervous sweat rolled down his face as he suddenly heard a dull mumbling erupt from his pocket. Squeezing his hand into the gap between his body and the wall, the blonde boy reached down into his shorts and retrieved his walkie-talkie.

"Say again, Codester? Over."

After no more than a couple of seconds, Zack heard his twin brother's voice resonate in response through the small speaker.

"I said are you okay? What's your location? Over."

Zack squinted his eyes and tried to look ahead into the distance, "I dunno'. It's too dark to see anything. Over."

"Well, do you know which way to go?"

An awkward silence briefly took over the two as Cody waited impatiently for his brother's reply.

"Zack?"

"What? You didn't say 'over'."

Zack grinned at his own cynical nature as he listened to Cody groan in annoyance through the talkie.

"Alright, forget about saying 'over'!" the younger twin spat, "Do you know where you're going?"

"Of course I do," Zack snapped back, "It's just a little more difficult than I remember..."

Trying to shuffle forward once more, Zack's eyes abruptly widened in delight as a beam of light appeared brightly ahead of him.

"Yes!" he hissed in success. An extreme enthusiasm instantly took over and began gliding him along faster than ever, "Cody," he spoke into his talkie, "I see the way out, man, I won't be – "

"Oh no," Cody abruptly cut in.

Zack frowned and came to a sudden halt in his place, "What is it?" The older twin waited in silence, frantically anticipating a reply from his brother, "Cody?"

"The enemy's approaching," Cody said anxiously, "You don't have much time."

"Can't you distract him?"

"He's already spotted me!"

Zack felt his heart stop. He couldn't let their whole operation go under now – not after they had come this far. He hastily pressed the button on his talkie back in, "Get out of here, Cody. You have to retreat, you don't have another choice."

"No!" Cody argued, "We're in this together, I'm not leaving you behind."

"But, bro – "

Before Zack had the chance to even consider finishing his sentence, the line he held with his brother went dead. The buzzing static between the two walkie-talkies had disappeared, and the older twin was left in nothing but cold, dark stillness.

"Codester?" he dared to ask through the speaker, "Cody?"

Just as Zack opened his mouth to fearfully speak his younger brother's name again, a loud thumping echoed all around him, causing him to jump in surprise.

"Zack!" a familiar, angry voice thundered in close proximity, "Get out of the air vent! Now!"

Sighing in defeat, Zack gritted his teeth together and began crawling along the metal air duct towards the beam of light he had spotted shining through the grate. He gently pushed it open and looked down to where a very irate Mr. Moesby was standing with Cody in the middle of his office, glaring back up at the older twin.

"Wow," Zack said, holding his hands up in surrender, "I can't believe I actually remembered enough to make it all the way here."

Moesby growled angrily, "Get down from there, Zack."

"Yeah, yeah, I'm com– whoa!"

Cody flinched as he watched his twin fall from about six feet up the wall and land flat on his backside with a loud thud on the carpeted floor just before his feet.

"Ow," Zack complained, "I think I landed on my talkie..."

Cody stuck his hand out and helped to pull his brother up off the ground while the whistling sound of Moesby's annoyed growls still hummed ferociously in his office.

"Four days we've been off the ship. _Four days_ ," he emphasised crossly, "And already you two have reverted back your old ways of causing havoc in my hotel! If you're not planting toys as immature as stink bombs into the elevators, then you're creating a stampede up on the rooftop and knocking elderly women into the swimming pool!"

"We told her we were sorry," Cody argued lamely.

"And what do you mean 'immature'?" Zack said, jumping to the defense of his favourite means of a practical joke.

"Oh, please," Moesby belittled them, "The two of you are almost seventeen years old – I'm afraid I don't know of any boys your age who insist on playing with such things."

"We are the only almost-seventeen-year-olds you know," Zack countered, "Besides Marcus and Woody – "

"Who is pretty much a walking stink bomb, anyway," Cody added.

"And besides, age is all up here," Zack went on, pointing to his temple with a confident nod of his head, "You can get yourself through any situation as long as you put your mind to it."

"Be that as it may, that still gives you no liable excuse for crawling through my air conditioning vents. I'm honestly surprised that either of you still fit in there."

Zack licked his lips and opened his mouth in an attempt to dispute Mr. Moesby even further, but was soon cut off as the hotel manager raised his hand to silence him, "And since I am only to assume that the reason you tried to sneak in here in the first place was to steal back the stink bombs that I confiscated from you – no, you can't have them back!"

Rolling his eyes, Zack looked over to Cody as he began to say something, "We're just bored Mr. Moesby. After spending two whole years on the ship, everything around here just seems… seems – "

"Exactly the same as it's always been," Zack sharply interjected.

"Well, I'm sorry you feel that way, but I'm afraid that's not my problem," Moesby stated simply, "Now, get back up to your suite before I have your mother lock you up there like you're twelve again."

With that then said, Zack rolled his eyes a final time and reluctantly followed Cody out of Moesby's office and back into the lobby of the Tipton hotel.

In all the months that the boys had been away from their hotel home, not a lot – if anything at all – had changed. The front desk still sat proudly by Moesby's office, the comfy lounge chairs were still placed welcomingly in the centre of the room, the candy counter hadn't shuffled an inch, and the huge, glass chandelier remained dangling down in the middle of the entire room. It was all exactly how the boys remembered when they had left.

Most of the employees were still working hard at the high-class Boston hotel, too. Arwin, the boys' beloved hotel engineer, Norman the doorman, Patrick the restaurant manager, Irene the concierge and, of course, Esteban. The former bell boy had been promoted to replace the relieving Mr. Moesby as hotel manager while the long-time right hand man of Mr. Tipton had served as manager of the S.S. Tipton. And now that Moesby was back, Esteban was still gratefully working alongside him as the new assistant manager of the five star paradise.

When it came down to it, the only person missing was Maddie. The beautiful, blonde candy counter girl had left Boston to chase her dreams at New York University and study a degree in political science. Other than her absence, everything truly was exactly the same. Which, of course, only added to the twins' boredom.

"This is so lame," Zack exclaimed, as he and Cody made their way towards the elevator.

Cody sighed wistfully, "I wish Bailey was here."

Zack groaned in aggravation as the double doors slid open before them, "I don't know what's _more_ lame. Being stuck back in Boston with nothing to do, or listening to you go _on and on_ about how much you miss Bailey. Seriously, dude, didn't you cry over her enough on the ship?"

Looking down at his feet, Cody heaved another sad breath, "I'll bet if Bailey were here, we wouldn't be so miserably bored."

Zack raised an eyebrow, wondering if his brother was even listening to a word he was saying. Shaking his head, the older twin eventually pressed the button numbered twenty-three and watched it light up as the elevator doors slowly closed in front of them, "Apparently not."

Summer vacation was only a tender couple of weeks old, but already, the break from school work and study was not panning out how either of the twins had imagined only a month or two ago.

Long before the sophomore year of the Semester at Sea had even come close to concluding, news had been broken by Mr. Tipton himself that he had sold his luxury cruise liner and the incredibly unique schooling program was going to be coming to a sad end.

It had certainly been a hell of a lot for a majority of the teenaged students to deal with and come to accept. Zack, Cody and all of their classmates had shared unbelievable experiences together on board the boat and made some of the best friendships that most of them would probably ever come to know. But now, just like that, it was all being snatched away from them.

With the fact dauntingly hanging over them that they weren't going to be living on the S.S. Tipton for much longer, Zack, Cody, Bailey and their other close friends had made sure that their last weeks on deck together were the most fun that they had ever had. But, evidently, it seemed that Cody was still trying to recover from becoming separated from his beautiful girlfriend.

As the boys made their approach to the front door of suite 2330, Cody began fishing around in his pocket for their room key. Carey was currently rehearsing downstairs in the ballroom, even though she had originally tried with all her might to have as much time off work as possible this week with the argument that she wanted to spend some precious, quality time with her boys during their first few days back home.

The day that they had finally returned, both Carey and Kurt were at the dock to meet their sons the second that they stepped off the boat. They both still held the memories – and the bruised limbs – from when Carey had hugged them tighter than the S.S. Tipton's head security guard, Kirby, ever had.

Their mother had made it as embarrassing as always for them when she finally had her two little men back in her grasp. But deep down, neither Zack nor Cody really minded that much. They were both secretly just so happy to be seeing their mum and dad again for the first time since Spring Break.

Just as Cody pushed this thought to the back of his mind and managed to salvage the key to the suite from the pocket of his shorts, he and Zack both snapped their heads up at the sound of the telephone ringing beyond the door. The younger twin quickly swiped the key card through the lock pushed open the front door.

Dashing across the suite and over to the phone, Cody took it off the receiver and pressed the green 'answer' button, "Hello?"

"Who is it?" Zack immediately cut in.

Cody aggressively waved his hand in an effort to keep Zack quiet, but he soon let it fall it as a wide smile beamed right across his face, "Hey, Bailey!"

Zack's expression dropped, "I'm out of here."

The younger twin stifled a laugh as he watched his twin slink off into their bedroom, obviously feeling quite unimpressed at the thought of having to listen to Cody and Bailey romance each other over the phone.

"Hey, sweetie," Bailey replied, regaining her boyfriend's attention, "How are you?"

"I'm pretty good. It's nice to be home, I guess," Cody answered, "I miss you, though."

"Oh, Cody," Bailey cooed with a girly giggle, "I miss you, too."

Cody felt his cheeks turn pink in a blush.

As relaxing as it was to finally be back home, Cody certainly wasn't lying when he said that he missed Bailey. God, did he miss her. It had only been four days since they had said their sad goodbyes to one another, and already it felt like a lifetime longer than Cody ever wanted to be away from her.

They may not have been together for all that long - it was now just over a year since they first started dating, but in that short time, Cody and Bailey had already looked far ahead and started to plan the rest of their lives with one another. Well, at least the rest of their high school careers, anyway. They wanted to be each other's date to senior prom. They wanted to be standing side by side on stage on graduation day in front of all their family and friends. But unless they were attending the same school, none of that was going to be able to happen.

Which was exactly why the two of them had spent every day of the last couple of months researching private colleges across the country for junior and senior high school students only.

After dozens of casual conversations, in depth discussions, and even a couple of slight arguments, Cody and Bailey soon decided that they didn't care where they went to school – all they wanted was to be at the _same_ school, together.

As this thought echoed in his mind for about the millionth time in the past four days, Cody's eyes suddenly widened in suspicion.

"What's going on? Have you heard anything?"

Stifling a delighted squeal, Bailey chewed down on her bottom lip, "Actually, I do have something to tell you…"

Cody raised an eyebrow, "Good news I hope?"

"The best!" Bailey exclaimed, "I got my letter from Washington!"

As his heart skipped a beat, Cody felt his expression narrow knowingly, "Is this going where I think it's going?"

The younger twin instantly moved the phone away from his ear as Bailey cried out in cheerful excitement, "Yes! Cody, I got in!"

The smallest, yet most genuine smile materialised across Cody's lips.

Out of all the senior schools across the country that he and Bailey had both applied for, Washington State School of Academics was the institute that had impressed the both of them more than any other. It may not have necessarily been super close to either of their home states, but the reviews and results available from the highly acclaimed school were second to none. It was the perfect place for any and all of their academic dreams to come true.

"Bailey! That's amazing," Cody spoke, imagining the beautiful look of happiness spread across his girlfriend's face, "I'm so proud of you."

Bailey could barely contain her excitement as she sighed into the phone, "This is going to be the best year ever," she went on, before slowly trailing off, "I mean, once you get your acceptance, too. You don't have your letter yet?"

As quickly as the feelings of elation had consumed his soul at his girlfriend's news, Cody suddenly felt a slight dejection cross over him. The younger twin expelled a soft sigh, "Well… no. No, not yet," he answered sadly, "But I can run downstairs and ask Moesby if today's mail has arrived yet."

"I'm sure you've got nothing to worry about," Bailey went on with a bright tone of confidence, "And you know you've got _all_ the support in the world from me, and our friends, and your family - oh, I can only imagine how excited your mom must be for us!"

An instant knot of sickly guilt twisted up in the pit of Cody's stomach.

He gulped at Bailey's words, picturing both her and his mother in his mind as he stuttered out a couple of nervous sounds into the phone.

"Cody?" Bailey asked in concern, "Sweetie? Is everything okay?"

The younger twin swallowed a lump in his throat and ran his hand back through his blonde hair. As much as he may have applied to dozens of different schools over the past couple of months, and as much as he may have been absolutely certain that this was what he wanted to do, Cody still may have been yet to exactly reveal his intended plans to some of those people closest to him. Or to anyone at all, really.

"You _have_ told your mom about all of this, right?"

The sound of Bailey's accusing tone echoing back down the phone set the cogs in Cody's brilliant mind to work as he tried to think of the easiest and most gentle way to confess his not so trivial secret. But lying never really had been his thing.

"Well..."

"Cody!" Bailey spat at his apologetic tone, "Why on Earth haven't you said anything to her? Do you not want to come anymore, or - "

"No - no, of course not," Cody immediately assured his girlfriend, "It's not that, it's just I know what my mom's like. She's only just got Zack and I back, and I dunno' if she's going to be willing to let me go again so easily."

"Well, you sorta' _have_ to tell her at some point," Bailey scoffed sarcastically, "There's no harm in coming across like you're asking her about it, rather than telling her. Play the 'education card' to her - you know she'll let you go for the sake of your future."

Cody nodded his head in agreement with every word Bailey was speaking, but still, he emitted another uncertain sigh, "I still don't think it's gonna' be that simple, I just - "

"Well, isn't it going to be all worth it to spend the whole next two school years with me?" Bailey sung flirtatiously, "Senior prom, graduation...?"

The instant craving for Bailey's touch suddenly exploded like fireworks throughout Cody's soul as a longing smile stretched across his lips, "You know I'd love that, and you know how much I _want_ that," he promised her, "It's just…"

For the absolute slimmest moment, the look of ecstasy fell from Cody's features as his eyesight subtly glanced over to the door of his bedroom. His chest impulsively clenched up for the shortest second as he pictured Zack sitting on the other side of it.

"Just what?" Bailey asked, snapping Cody out of his trance.

Jumping slightly at the sound of her voice, Cody blinked just once as he willed his vision away from his bedroom door. He took another moment, but soon shook his head, ridding it of all thought as he refocused his attention back to his girlfriend.

"Sorry - its nothing, don't worry about it," he spoke, gently brushing off the awkward moment, "I'll ask Mom tonight, okay? I promise. And I'll run downstairs right now and check the mail."

Feigning a squeal of anticipated excitement, Bailey eagerly nodded her head, "Sounds perfect. You just make sure you call me right back if you find out anything!" she teased. In the next second, the teenage girl allowed a dreamy sigh to dance from between her lips, "I can't wait to see you again, Cody."

Cody's heart pumped with a thriving happiness in his chest. The irresistible sound of Bailey speaking his name never failed to send an electric shiver racing up his spine. He simply couldn't wait to see her again, either. There was nothing he wanted more.

"Bye-bye my little Hay Bail."

Another delighted grin appeared on the younger twin's face as he listened to the sweet sounds of Bailey's adorable giggle before the only thing left to be heard was the droned beeping of the receiver.

A million different thoughts were all fighting each other for immediate occupancy of Cody's mind as he hung up the phone and placed it down on the table. It was quickly seeming that the faster this ultimate decision was beginning to creep up on him, the more Cody was being faced with to consider and think about.

To be completely honest, Cody wasn't one hundred per cent sure why he had opted not to mention any of his plans to his mother as yet. But ever since he and Zack returned home those four short days ago - each time now that Cody pictured the look of pure joy that had immediately swept across Carey's face the minute she saw her boys coming into port, the more guilty he slowly began to feel. Was he really willing to basically run off straight away and leave her all over again?

Cody huffed out in frustration, rubbing his temples. The argument he was continually having with himself was quickly causing a sharp headache to pound uncomfortably in his mind. After all, it wouldn't just be Carey he would be without again if he chose to move inter-state for school. It would be his dad, his friends, his hotel home - much like it had been when he was on the ship - but this time around, he would _also_ be without London and Mr. Moesby.

And, well, of course - there was just _one_ other person that list also included...

"Dude, you done yet?"

The booming sound of Zack's voice from their shared bedroom instantly derailed Cody's train of thought. He jumped slightly, srprirsed to suddenly hear his brother through the closed door that he didn't even realise he had been staring at so intently.

"Oh! Uh... yeah," Cody stammered, "She just called to say hi."

In the next moment, the older twin opened the door and stuck his head out into the living room, glancing at his brother, "Good, get your butt in here and play some video games with me. It's been a while since I've had the chance to beat you into a pulp one-on-one."

Cody shook his head with a sarcastic smirk, "Is this your way of saying that you've missed our brotherly bonding time, Zack?"

Zack scoffed at Cody's equally cynical nature, "If you mean have I missed having extremely easy competition after actually finding a challenge in Woody and Marcus for the past two years, then I 'spose you could say yes. Now, come on already!"

"Yeah, yeah, give me five minutes," Cody said with a roll of his eyes, "I've just gotta' run downstairs for a sec."

Zack sensed a frown wrinkle into his brow at his brother's vague explanation, but he soon opted to simply shrug his shoulders, "Well, make it quick. Don't think you can escape the beat down you're about to receive at the hands of Game Master Zack."

Spitting out a single laugh of disbelief, Cody felt his eyes roll again as he mumbled that he would be back soon and then headed towards the front door.

The elevator ride back down to the lobby seemed a hell of a lot longer than any other trip he had made a countless number of times over the past four years. As Cody leant up against the wall at the back of the small, square space, he watched as each of the numbered floors counted down from twenty-three above the door. His mind continued to tick over just as slowly.

The teenage boy may not have been too sure just yet of exactly _how_ he was going to inform Carey of his ambitions for junior and senior year, but what did know was that it absolutely had to be done tonight. Not only had he promised Bailey that he would, but the whole secretive nature of the situation was beginning to feel just a tad too suffocating.

Besides, Carey and Kurt weren't the only ones that Cody was keeping in the dark.

As the elevator landed back in the lobby with a high pitched 'ding', Cody stepped through the sliding doors and onto the carpet before heading over to Mr. Moesby's desk. The hotel manager visibly cringed at the sight of the younger twin casually strolling towards him.

"What did I tell you no more than ten minutes ago?"

Holding his hands up in immediate defence, Cody made his approach much more cautiously as he forced a friendly smile, "Relax, I'm alone and un-armed," he quipped, "Has any mail come in for us today?"

Letting his shoulders slouch back slightly, Moesby stared Cody up and down for a second. He supposed the less threatening of his two nemeses was nothing he couldn't handle, and soon conceded as he turned around and reached up to the mail slot on the wall behind his desk labelled with a capital 'M'. After a couple of short seconds of flicking through about a dozen white envelopes, Moesby singled out four letters addressed to the Martins and handed them to Cody.

"Now go, before your restless brother decides he needs something from me and comes back down here, too."

Holding back a laugh, Cody quickly turned on his heels and darted back into the centre of the lobby. As he scanned through the small bunch of letters, the younger twin found that the majority looked to simply be bills addressed to Carey. The last envelope, however, made Cody freeze for a second as he spotted his own name sitting on it as clear as day. It also just happened to be stamped with the moniker for Washington State School of Academics.

Sucking in a deep breath, Cody was still for a moment longer. He sat against the arm of one of the lobby couches and tore open the back of the envelope, revealing the very official looking letter.

And then, Cody felt his heart skip a beat.

Just as he felt his eyes widen in surprise and his brain dissect the meaning of the words written so diligently before him, the younger twin suddenly felt a jolt of slight shock run through him as his cell phone vibrated against his leg. Reaching into his pocket, Cody grabbed the slim device and swiped across his lock screen.

The teasing text message glaring back at him from Zack made his spirits drizzle in an instant wave of powerful uncertainty.

 _Dude, the computer is putting up more of a fight than you, hurry up!_

With a shake of his head, Cody tried as hard as he could to take his brother's joking words as an insult, but he just couldn't. This was typical Zack - teasing and mocking other people was simply in his nature, especially when it came to Cody. And as much as Cody may have fought back at him at any and every moment possible, deep down he was smart enough to know that it was just how Zack chose to show how much he cared.

It didn't take a genius to figure out that Zack was surely going to demolish Cody in whatever video game related torture he decided to force upon him that afternoon. But it also didn't take brains to know that Cody's lack of hand-eye coordination and insane inferiority to his brother on this particular day could be accredited to way more than just his poor gaming abilities.

Because as his confused gaze cast between the two items he was still holding - his letter from Washington, and his phone with the text message from his brother - it only made Cody feel that much more conflicted about everything he wanted for his future in the one hand, and everything he loved about his present in the other.

 _-x-_


	3. Place Your Bets

'You're tryin' to save me,  
From your past of bad decisions,  
But my decision's always gonna' be,  
To follow you.'  
 _ **Glowing - The Script**_

 _-x-_

 **Chapter Two - Place Your Bets.**

Cody continued to silently push the soft, yellow penne around with his fork, drowning it in pasta sauce. After having spent thirty minutes cooking dinner, five minutes setting the table, and about another five minutes mindlessly picking at his food like he had coated it in poison, Cody was quickly starting to run out of ideas to put off talking to his mother about the letter he had received from Washington that afternoon.

The words that the younger twin had read from the perfectly folded and printed piece of paper still stuck out in his mind as clear as day. _'It is with our great pleasure that we offer you a position of acceptance to our school...'_

Cody felt a shiver immediately race up his spine. The sensation was one of nothing but pure excitement. Not only was he a mere two and half months away from getting to spend two more entire school years with his beautiful Southern Belle, but he and Bailey would be doing so at one of the most highly rated academic senior colleges in the country.

Well, that was all if Carey would actually allow her baby to go.

"Everything okay, sweetie?"

Cody's head suddenly flicked up as the sound of his mum's voice snapped him out of his trance. He sighed at the trivial concern on the brink of her vision, before quickly glancing over to his older brother. The younger twin paused with a roll of his eyes to find Zack obliviously inhaling his meal at full speed.

For a moment, Cody was still, quietly mulling over his thoughts for a second longer. As he soon turned back to look at Carey, the teenage boy took a deep breath, "Mom, can I talk to you about something?"

Carey frowned, "Of course, Cody, what is it?"

Biting down on his bottom lip, Cody desperately tried to decide where to begin. He could still hear the adorable sounds of Bailey's elated giggles and squeals from when he had called her straight back that afternoon and told her about how he had been accepted to their new school, too. But somehow, that was all starting to become slowly drowned out by the inevitable words of concern that would surely be expressed any moment now from Carey. Or by the sounds of Zack vacuuming his food up through his mouth.

With a small shake of his head, Cody tried to ignore his brother just as much as Zack was ignoring him and forced himself to press on, "Well... it's kind of a long story," he started half-heartedly, "See... back when Mr. Tipton announced that he had sold the ship..."

As he trailed off again, Carey felt her brow furrow deeper at the despondent tone in Cody's voice, "Any chance I can hear the short version, sweetie?" she joked lightly, "Baby, you're starting to worry me."

Feigning a soft groan, Cody placed his fork down in his bowl and ran his hand down his face. It certainly hadn't taken long for Carey's motherly angst to consume the air at the dinner table, but before it had the chance to completely suffocate him, Cody quickly decided he had better just bite the bullet and cut straight to the chase.

"You don't need to worry, Mom, it's just..." Cody tried to find some reassuring words, but soon only sighed again as he took another breath, "It's just that... well, I mean, the ship got sold, and all of my plans pretty much got swept out from right underneath me, so I spoke to Bailey about it, and she and I agreed that we weren't prepared to just sit back and let our future together get ripped away from us, so - "

"Whoa, whoa, honey, slow down!" Carey spoke, cutting right through her son's hasty explanation with another small laugh, "Cody, I said I wanted the short version, not the panicked, rambled version."

His mum's attempt at humour was certainly not doing any good for Cody's nerves. No matter which light hearted direction she tried to steer this conversation, there was simply no easy or pleasant way for the younger twin to confess the secret he had been keeping from her for over two months now.

"Just spit it out, dude, how bad can it be?"

At the sound of his brother's voice echoing from across the table, Cody sensed the tightness in his chest ease slightly as he glanced up at Zack. He paused for a moment longer - partly because he had to take a second to actually translate what his twin had spoken to him through a mouth full of food.

And then, Cody licked his lips one final time, "We just decided - Bailey and I... that we didn't want to sacrifice our junior and senior year together. So... we sorta' applied to a whole bunch of senior high schools..."

Just out of the corner of his eye, Cody suddenly noticed that these last words had finally caught Zack's full attention. The older twin placed his fork into his bowl with a frown and waited as his little brother opened his mouth to finish his thought.

" _And_ we both sorta' got accepted to the same one," Cody dared to speak, "...in Washington."

An instant hush fell over the small dining table where the three sat. Cody waited with a breath held in as he tried his hardest to accurately study his mother's expression. At first it seemed her eyes had widened in surprised delight, but as the true meaning of her son's confession slowly started to dawn on her, Carey's face began to change.

"Wow, Cody..."

The two words she managed to mumble made Cody gulp. The simple statement had the capabilities of being followed by absolutely anything, but luckily for the younger twin, Carey chose to lead with a smile. A small smile, but a smile all the same.

"Well, honey... I mean, that's great news! It really is, I'm so proud of you," she offered genuinely, "But, um... what's the name of this school?"

Cody shot a small grin back at her, "Washington State School of Academics."

With a slow nod of her head as the cogs in her mind continued to turn, Carey mimicked the first word her son had spoken, "Washington..." she hesitated, suddenly turning her attention to the older of her two boys, "Did you know anything about this?"

Seemingly unphased by the news developing all around him, Zack shrugged his shoulders with a shake of his head, "No."

Almost immediately, Carey raised an eyebrow at her son.

"What?" Zack grunted, "I'm supposed to be surprised when my nerd brother gets accepted into a nerd school?"

Letting this incredibly poor trace of a compliment sink in, Cody watched with a frown as Zack grabbed his bowl and stood up from the table, "Got any frosting to go with this pasta?" he asked Carey, walking towards the fridge.

Shaking her head in total bewilderment, Carey ignored Zack and turned back to her younger son. She took a breath, gathering her thoughts, "So, I take it you want to accept this offer and transfer to this school?"

Cody could see all too clearly the speckles of hope that danced in his mother's eyes while she waited for him to answer him. He really didn't want to upset her... but at the same time, he wanted to put his own happiness first. His, and Bailey's.

"I want to be with Bailey. So, yes."

Carey blew out a long, hesitant sigh from between her lips. She had a feeling that was going to be Cody's answer, "Honey, it sounds amazing, but how do you expect us to be able to afford for you to go?"

Narrowing his eyes at his mother, Cody folded his arms across the table, "I know you've still got the money saved up that you were going to spend on my next Semester at Sea. I researched the tuition fees for this school way before I even applied - its close to what you were already paying for me to go to school on the ship," he countered, continuing right along, "The students live in the dorms on campus, which is all inclusive in the annual fee. _And_ I've saved up more than enough from my old towel job to buy my own textbooks, and my flight out there and - "

"Whoa, wait, what?" Zack suddenly cut in, gawking at his brother in disbelief, "You actually kept some money saved up from those cruddy old jobs?"

Cody rolled his eyes, "Uh, yeah? See, while _I_ distributed all my paychecks into a secure, two point one-eight per cent interest per month savings account, _you_ were spending yours on bacon and root beer - "

" - and frosting!" Zack added, holding forward the tin he had managed to find in the kitchen.

"Anyway," Cody said through gritted teeth, turning back to Carey, "Mom, you don't have give me an answer now, but can you at least just consider it? Please?" he urged her, "Out of all the schools that Bailey and I applied for, this is the one that stood out as the front runner of an amazing bunch. It's one of the best schools in the whole country. It could do wonders for my grades and my GPA when I want to apply to an even greater college."

As his words continued to flow from within his soul as if he had rehearsed them a million times before, Cody felt a warm smile of anticipation cross his face, "I'll be able to become whatever or whoever I want."

Listening to the sounds of sheer wonderment spew from her son's heart, Carey quickly began stuttering over a reply. The clear excellency of the school was proving itself to be a very convincing argument. However, much like Cody had suspected, Carey was stubbornly holding onto the fact that her baby had only just flown back to her and was already trying to viciously leave the nest all over again.

"Well, it… it sounds like... a fabulous opportunity, Cody," she eventually admitted, "But a whole year? Two years? Your brother and I would just miss you so much, wouldn't we, Zack?"

"Nope," the older twin replied, his mouth full of a chocolate-coated mess of mince and carbs, "Why are you asking me, anyway? Like, why are you trying to stop him?" Zack then dared to ask, catching a surprised expression from Carey, "I mean, no offence or anything, Mom, but we're not little kids anymore. Shouldn't this be Cody's decision?"

Cody and Carey both abruptly froze in their place, staring at Zack before glancing back at each other. Carey gritted her teeth, stewing in disbelief that the boy plopping mass amounts of chocolate frosting on top of his pasta like salsa sauce onto nachos had actually managed to come up with an agreeable argument.

As much as it may have been a rarity, Carey hated it when Zack was right.

"Cody," she sighed with reluctance, "Zack has a point – "

"I do?" the older twin asked smartly.

"Zack," Carey scolded before refocusing her attention to Cody, "Are you sure this what you really want?"

Cody impulsively fell to a short moment of silence.

Throughout his entire delivery to Carey about how great Washington State School was and all that it had offer him and his future, a feeling of immense anticipation and excitement had been strongly brewing in his stomach. He wasn't sure if it was because of the thought of simply getting to be with Bailey again, or if it was actually weighed more towards the prospect of such a great, new adventure and challenge.

But wherever this genuine emotion had stemmed from, Cody definitely liked it. And he didn't want to let it go.

In a final moment of hesitation - and at the abrupt thought of letting things go - the younger twin subtly glanced up at his older brother. And then, Cody felt himself beam on the inside as Zack firmly nodded his head.

"Yes," Cody spoke confidently to Carey, "Yeah, I'm sure. I want to go."

Carey sensed her heart swell. As much as she suspected that the sensation had been partly caused by the slight pain of being detached from Cody again, she also knew that a larger part of it was nothing more than pure pride in her son's brave decision.

"Okay," she finally conceded with a tone of humble defeat, " _But_ before I agree to anything, I'm still going to call your father to discuss this with him and see what he thinks about it all and – "

"Ha," Zack laughed, interjecting himself in the conversation once again, "When have you ever listened to any of Dad's opinions?"

"Zack," Carey sniped for a second time, this time with a much more reprimanding tone - one that caused Zack to hold both his hands up in front of him in defence.

At the immediate sound of a loud clattering, Zack flinched as he heard the dull tone of the tin frosting container bounce against the tiled floor. Unwillingly looking down at his feet, the blonde boy gulped at the sight of the chocolate puddle increasing in surface area on the ground where he stood in the kitchen.

"Ooh," he mused to himself as he peeked back up at Carey and the extremely unimpressed expression on her face, "I'm gonna' go get a towel."

Stifling a laugh, Cody watched as Zack scurried across the suite and disappeared into the bathroom. Keeping her frustrations buried deep within her, Carey merely shook her head at her son's absent-mindedness.

"You want to take him with you?" she asked cynically.

Cody laughed, "I think I'd end up sending him back after the first day."

Smirking at his comment, Carey nodded her head in agreement. Finally standing up from the table, she then collected all three empty bowls, taking care to avoid Zack's chocolate pond where it inhabited the floor. Cody watched her as she did, thinking back on the conversation that he couldn't believe he had just managed to actually will himself through.

Carey had surprisingly taken the news far better than Cody ever thought she would have. All that was left to do now was for her to discuss any possible decisions with her ex-husband, but Cody knew his dad would agree and say yes without a second thought. All Kurt ever wanted was to do whatever it took to make his boys happy.

The thought of this made Cody smile. He sure was going to miss his parents when he went away again. A lot.

Restlessly fiddling with the tassels of the table cloth, Cody took a second to subtly glance over his shoulder towards the bathroom.

While Cody knew without a doubt that his brother could annoy and frustrate him to absolutely no end, none of that could detract from how much he suspected he was going to miss Zack just as much, too. It was probably going to be a rewarding experience to not be so attached at the hip with him for once, and it was definitely going to be nice to spend so much quality time with Bailey. As for the remainder of his emotional response? The younger twin was just going to have wait and see what happened when he left.

There was one thing that was for sure, though - Cody simply couldn't wait to find out.

"Hey, Mom?" Zack suddenly called in confusion from the bathroom, "Where do we keep the clean towels?"

"Next to the soap and face-washers, honey."

A brief silence settled between the four walls of the suite.

"…Hey, Mom?"

 _-x-_

Running his hand through his wet hair, Cody pushed open the door to his and Zack's room and took a shirt out of his drawer to match his pyjama pants. Zack was contently sitting up in his bed, his eyes glued to the small television screen at the foot of it as he rigorously pressed at the gaming controller in his hands.

Looking over to his twin, Cody couldn't help but smile.

"Thanks for today, Zack."

"Hey, no problem, buddy," the older twin replied, perhaps a little too quickly.

Cody furrowed his brow, "Do you even have any idea what I'm talking about?"

"Nope. I'm just hoping you'll zip it so I can concentrate on this game."

Cody scoffed at the typical nature of his brother as he took a seat at the end of Zack's bed, "I'm serious, man. It's because of you that Mom's gonna' talk to Dad about all this tomorrow and is actually considering letting me go to this school. I mean, this afternoon I was still kinda' tossing up about it, but - "

"Wait, you were?" Zack interrupted with genuine curiosity, "How come?"

Cody shrugged, "I dunno' really. Just being so far away from home and Mom and Dad again," the shortest possible silence fell between the boys, "And you."

For a split second, the two simple words from his brother filled the older twin with some kind of unfamiliar emotion, but soon enough, Zack could only smirk sarcastically. Pausing his video game, the older boy felt the teasing grin beam further across his face, "Aw, poor little Cody-Wody is going to miss his big brother, is he?"

"Shut up," Cody immediately snapped, slapping Zack's hand away as he went to pinch his cheek. Attempting to change the subject as best he could, Cody blew out an anticipating sigh, "Now I'm just excited to hurry up and get there already."

"You should be, it'll be fun," Zack agreed, before falling to some slim hesitation, "I mean, nowhere near as much fun as I'm going to have here, but you'll still have a good time."

Cody suddenly froze and raised a challenging eyebrow at his brother.

Zack tilted his head in confusion, "What?"

Spitting out a loud laugh, Cody shook his head, "Do you seriously think you're going to have a better time than I am this year?"

"Uh, yeah?" Zack answered instantly, "I'm going to be heading back to our old school, hitting up all our old hangout spots, and kicking back with all our old friends. I'll bet there's a million and one priceless pranks and adventures I've missed out on. The only person you're going to have to hang around with is Bailey."

A sly grin of disbelief crept across the younger twin's face, "Oh, yeah - however am I going to keep myself happy and entertained with no-one but my gorgeous girlfriend to hang out with?"

Zack's face immediately cringed at his brother's sarcastic quip, "Okay then, smart guy - if you think you're so right and you're going to have a much more amazing year than me, why don't you put your money where your mouth is?"

Cody's eyes brightened in curious delight, "A bet?"

"Oh, yeah," Zack confirmed with confidence, "I'll bet that if you end up going to this boring, fancy school, I can have a much better junior year staying right here in good ol' Boston."

"Deal," Cody agreed without a second thought. He projected his hand forward for Zack to shake, "Conditions?"

Zack chewed on his bottom lip in deep thought as he dropped his hand from Cody's grip, "I've got it - you'll be back home over the summer, right?"

Cody nodded his head with his confirmation, causing Zack's smile to increase, "Well, if I win, you have to be my towel boy for the whole of next summer. If you win, I'll be your bus boy."

"Like on the ship?"

"Exactly. You do all my laundry, and I'll serve you any pathetic drink or food order you desire."

Cody's forehead creased as his level of approval gradually intensified with the thought of the stipulations. While the notion of being solely responsible for the gross - and possibly fungal - state of Zack's laundry didn't exactly impress him, the younger twin was more than willing to risk all that to prove that he would have a way more enjoyable year than his brother would.

"Sounds good to me," Cody finally consented, "I can't wait to be sitting poolside all summer with you bringing me a whole variety of fruit juicy goodness."

"Ha, keep dreaming, bro," Zack taunted, "It's never gonna' happen."

A smug expression settled into Cody's features at the sound of Zack's undeniable confidence, "Well, if good grades are one thing to be taken into consideration for the enjoyment of this year, we may as well call this bet already won right now."

Narrowing his eyes at his brother's insult, Zack was just about to viciously leap towards Cody and tackle him right off the bed when they both heard a soft knock at their door. In the next second, Carey poked her head around the corner, rubbing her weary eyes, "Boys, I'm going to bed so can you keep it down, please?"

"Sure thing, Mom," Cody answered.

"Be in bed before midnight."

"Yes, Mom," Zack droned in the same tone for about the millionth time since they had been back home.

"Okay, guys, goodnight," she said with a yawn, "I love you."

"Love you, too," they replied in perfect unison.

Blowing her boys a kiss, Carey then disappeared back into the living room, shutting the bedroom door behind her and leaving Zack and Cody on their own again.

Forcing a yawn of his own, Cody quietly climbed off Zack's bed and dragged his feet towards his own on the other side of the room. As he reached for the book that was sitting on his nightstand, the younger twin took a second to nestle into his pillow and make himself comfortable on top of his covers. Once he felt completely relaxed, Cody's eyes scanned over the first couple of sentences of the next chapter in his book while Zack continued to tap away at the controller of his gaming console.

The silence between them had well and truly consumed the air of their room by now. As much as someone from the outside looking in may have felt somewhat of an awkwardness to be stewing in such a sharp quiet, the twins never had any such thoughts. Not ever. Zack and Cody could exchange just as much thought and emotion between them without ever uttering a single word.

As the sentences in his book slowly started to mesh together into one, Cody blinked hard a couple of times and shook his head. Soon enough, the younger twin decided that even he couldn't hold any state of concentration amongst all his other jumbled thoughts that evening. Blowing out a subtle sigh, Cody put the book back down in its place and turned on the lamp by his bed before he quickly jumped up and flicked off the main light switch to his and Zack's room.

Pulling back his covers, Cody collapsed into his mattress and stared up at the dark blankness of his bedroom ceiling. The silence between the four walls of the room was still yet to be broken. Zack was far too engrossed in the spaceships he was trying to shoot to offer any words, and Cody was drowning in a thousand loud discussions within himself to form a conversation with anyone else.

He couldn't wait to see his dad tomorrow and hear what Kurt thought about his prospective new school. He couldn't wait to talk to Bailey and see her again in a mere two months. But, more than anything else, Cody simply couldn't wait to start his new journey.

Falling to the most minute moment of hesitation, Cody licked his bottom lip, "Just make sure you save a couple of adventures for me before I go, okay?"

Zack smirked into the darkness of their room, "Don't worry Cody-Wody, your big bro's got your back."

Instantly, Cody rolled his eyes. He had no idea why he insisted on walking himself right into these teasing insults from his brother, and he sure as hell didn't have the first clue why he had the feeling that he was going to miss being made fun of so much. He just knew that he would. He was going to miss everything about Zack.

But he was especially going to miss the fact that the two of them always had someone around that they could playfully pick on.

Reaching back behind him and snatching up one of his spare pillows, Cody hurled it across the room directly at Zack. He watched with a laugh as it smacked his twin in the head, and then brought his voice to a joking snarl,

"Shut _up_...!"

 _-x-_

 **Hey guys!**

 **I thought I'd pop in with a little A/N at the end of this chapter to see what you all think so far of my re-write. I think we can all agree the slight tweaks I've made in the storyline have made it much better :)**

 **You might have also noticed I've finally started to spell mum/mom the way that the boys would actually say it.. better late than never, right? ;)**

 **Please feel free to leave me review and let me know what you think so far! I would love to hear from you :)**

 **Til next time guys,**

 **Reneyyyyyyyy x**


	4. Best Left Forgotten

'Life is what happens,  
While you're busy making your excuses,  
Another day, another casualty,  
But that won't happen to me.'  
 _ **When I'm Gone - Simple Plan**_

 _-x-_

 **Chapter Three - Best Left Forgotten.**

The strong rays of the Boston summer sun beating down on Zack radiated his whole body. The cool breeze felt crisp and refreshing against his face as he continued to tear shreds off the cement beneath him and his skateboard. He could barely recall when he had last spent so much time with his deck and the four, tiny wheels - but Zack certainly hadn't missed a single step.

As he rolled back and forth in the bowl right in the middle of the skate park, Zack couldn't help but find it sort of hard to believe how many little things he had missed about home while he had been away on the S.S. Tipton. The luxury cruiseliner certainly housed a million and one other fun things for the students and passengers to indulge in. But keeping balance on a skateboard was hard enough in general for most people - keeping balance on a skateboard while _on board_ a rocking ship at sea was a whole other challenge.

Zack smiled at the comfortable feeling of content that filled him. As difficult and boring as it may have been to immediately try and settle back in to life off the ship, he supposed it wasn't _all_ bad being home in Boston.

Skidding into a perfectly precise stop at the top of the concrete bowl, the older twin took a second to gaze around. He recognised a few faces of the other teenagers skating around from his first semester at Cheevers High, but no one particularly stood out to him. He couldn't wait to see some of his best friends and finally catch up with them again. Zack only wondered whether or not Cody was going to be easily able to make as many close friendships at his new school.

Frowning at this abrupt thought as it crossed him, Zack shook his head, brushing it off.

Cody still wasn't certain if he was even going to accept his offer and move to Washington yet. It's not that the older boy didn't want him to go - he was excited for his brother, and sort of looking forward to the opportunity to gain some real individuality. Zack just couldn't help if it he was - admittedly - going to miss Cody a little bit, too. Or that he was probably going to worry about him like crazy.

Forcing all these notions out of his mind for now, Zack nestled the back of his board against the concrete rim before him. He went to lean all his weight towards the front of the deck and dive down into the bowl again, when the sudden sound of his name made him snap his head up instead.

"Zack?" Cody's voice repeated. The younger twin had come from the direction of the Tipton and was now approaching his brother across the lavishly green grass of Liberty Park.

Cody had opted to stay home and do some more research into Washington that afternoon, while Zack had made his way down to the skate park by himself. There was absolutely _no_ way that the older twin planned on spending any time in front of a computer until school started again... unless, of course, it was to pummel his brother or any of his online friends in a video game. Kicking his board up and taking it under his arm, Zack unclipped his helmet and casually strolled over towards Cody, too - the two of them meeting by the beautiful, huge tree right in the middle of the park.

"'Sup, brosef?" Zack asked with a grin.

Cody simply shrugged his shoulders, gesturing down the street past the park, "Mom just asked me to run down to the market and grab a couple of things for her."

"Oh, okay," the older twin replied, placing his board back on the ground, "I guess I'll come with."

With the straps of his loosely adjusted helmet dangling under his chin, Zack sensed the summer breeze continue to pass him as he zipped down the sidewalk. He slowed up every few metres as Cody followed behind him on foot.

As a sharp silence crept up on their conversation, Zack curiously licked his lips.

"How's all the Washington stuff going?"

Cody gazed up at his brother with excitement dancing in his eyes, "Really great, actually. I've been taking a closer look at all the extra-curriculars they offer, and what their library facilities are like - oh, and which airline might end up being the best to fly out there with, and - "

"Whoa," Zack suddenly cut in with a chuckle, "All this before you know if you're even gonna' accept the offer?"

"Oh, please," Cody retorted with a roll of his eyes, "Dad's not gonna' say no. And him saying yes is only gonna' make Mom feel like the bad guy if she still doesn't want me to go."

Zack could only nod his head in agreement as he rolled a few more feet ahead of his brother. He knew how much Carey hated to seem like an overprotective prude when compared to Kurt. If their father was proven to be happy to see Cody set free on this new adventure, then the overall decision was pretty much set in stone.

And aside from that, Cody himself certainly seemed to had already made up his mind.

"Geez, aren't you relieved we escaped that dump?"

Snapping out of his daze, Zack quickly swerved on his board to barely miss a stick lying in the middle of the footpath. He blinked, glancing back over his shoulder to Cody at the sound of his twin's voice, "Huh?"

With one simple nod of his head, Cody pointed across the street towards the all too familiar market sitting on the corner. The boys both shuddered at the instant memories that formed of their days slaving away at the Paul Revere Minimart during the summer vacation between Middle School and High School. To this day, Cody still swore that he hadn't been able to sufficiently shampoo and condition his hair clean of all the disgusting, flaky gunk coating the inside of the stupid hat they had both been made to wear.

"I don't care how much money I need to move to Washington," the younger twin went on, "You could not pay me _enough_ to ever go back and work there."

Zack spat out a cynical scoff, "I dunno', man. Whether I'm bagging cartons of juice by the gallon, or making it myself and pouring it into a plastic cup, customer service just plain stinks no matter what you're selling."

"Ha," Cody agreed with a laugh, "Yeah, I guess you've got that right."

The twins shared another chuckle as they peered across the street and through the huge front window of their old workplace. As they squinted their eyes, they could just make out the easily recognisable image of Wayne - the greasy looking assistant manager who was just as large and just as unattractive as Zack and Cody remembered him.

The arrogant store manager was in the middle of an argument with an old woman who was aggressively waving what looked to be a very rotten bunch of bananas in his face. The sight was simply far too cringeworthy to turn away from. So much so, that it just happened to keep Zack and Cody completely distracted from noticing who was suddenly staring at them from where they stood on the same street block.

"Zack?"

"Cody?"

The two voices that called the two names of the twins from outside of the Betsy Ross Stop 'n' Shop were distinctively different, but for more than just one reason.

To start with, one was male and one was female. That was pretty self-explanatory. But the voice that had spoken Zack's name had done so with a bright, surprised happiness. The tone that had accompanied Cody's name, however, didn't exactly sound as thrilled or impressed.

Flicking their eyes up to meet their intended destination, the expression on both boys' faces instantly altered. Zack's features widened in delight as he hastily scraped his foot along the ground and skated with all his might towards the end of the block. Cody, on the other hand, could only sense his appearance dramatically droop with nowhere near as much enthusiasm.

"Bob!" Zack called back to one of his oldest friends.

Cody joined in with a nervous gulp as he ambled behind his brother, "Barbara..."

Watching on as Zack and Bob collected each other in an eager man-hug, Cody sighed to himself, trying his absolute hardest to avoid any eye contact with Barbara. As silly as it may have sounded, the younger twin had sort of hoped that he would have been able to successfully manoeuvre through his summer in Boston without running into any of his old friends - especially Barbara Brownstein.

As far as Cody was concerned, he had moved well past everything to do with Cheevers High School - not just his ex-girlfriend, but even his friends who still went there, too. His life was all about bettering his education with Bailey by his side now. The sooner he was back in her presence and away from all the awkward confrontations that came with being in Boston simply wasn't soon enough.

"Cody! Hey man," Bob exclaimed as he redirected his attention from one twin to the other.

Cody half-heartedly returned the quick hug and pat on the back that the red-headed boy offered the younger Martin, "Hey, Bob," he forced himself to emit with a pleasant enough tone. Casting his gaze over to the dark haired girl who was standing right behind her new boyfriend, Cody merely nodded his head, "Barbara."

The agitated fire that lit up behind Barbara's glasses was almost visible to all those around her as she gestured back to her ex, "Cody."

"When did you guys get back?" Bob suddenly spoke, slicing right through the uncomfortable moment.

"Like, five days ago, dude," Zack answered him, "Just in time for the start of summer before coming back down to good ol' Cheevers for junior year."

"Oh, awesome! Man, I've been looking forward to this day since way back in March when you first told me you were coming back," the red head went on, "You're finally gonna' breathe some life back into that old dump!"

"Uh, not to mention how much I'm going to take the breath _away_ from all the hot, Boston babes I've missed out on over the past two years," Zack said slyly, nudging his buddy in the arm.

"Oh-hoa!" Bob chuckled in agreement, "You've got that right, man - "

"Ahem?" Barbara cut in with a menacing glare in her eye.

Immediately, Bob's face drained of all colour to even more pale shade of white than normal, "I-I, I mean, n-not that there's anyone h-hotter than you, my fiery little flower."

With a roll of his eyes at the desperation in his friend's voice, Cody couldn't help but murmur an amused laugh and a grunt at the exchange between the loved-up couple. Instantly narrowing her eyes at the sounds that escaped her ex-boyfriend, Barbara whipped her head around and grimaced at Cody.

"So, you're coming back, too, Cody?" she asked with sarcastic intrigue, "Well, I think you have just a _little_ bit of catching up to do if you have any hope of ever matching my perfect GPA and beating me to become Valedictorian at the end of high school."

Biting his tongue and forcing back any overly-rude retorts that viciously sparked in his mind, Cody simply folded his arms across his chest and smugly pushed his shoulders back, "Actually, I'm not coming back to Cheevers. I've been accepted into a highly prestigious senior college in D.C.," he announced proudly, "And so has Bailey. She and I are both moving out there to live on campus so we can keep going to the same school together."

"Bailey?" Barbara asked with a snort, "You mean your pretend girlfriend from the ship?"

"Oh, there's no pretending anymore," Cody countered right back, "I may have made some dumb mistakes and thought up some stupid fantasies when we were younger, but Bailey and I are actually dating. For real. We have been for over a year now."

Barbara matched Cody's stance as she crossed her arms, too, "Oh, please..."

"Nope, it's really true," Zack chimed in, nodding his head to confirm his brother's story, "I didn't believe it at first, either... actually, sometimes I _still_ don't believe it, but it's true."

Shaking his head back and forth, Cody shot daggers at his brother and his unconvincing attempt to back him up. The younger twin would have given anything to have Bailey standing supportively by his side in that moment - more so than any other moment over the past five, torturous days without her.

Right as he went to open his mouth and try to form some further self-defence, Barbara viciously cut off the blonde boy opposite her again.

"Oh, well congratulations! I'm very happy for you two," the teenage girl spewed with cynical venom, "I hope you live happily ever after and raise a whole barn full of chickens with Little Miss Bailey Piglet."

Cody's hazel vision sharpened, "It's _Pickett_."

"I know what I said."

Zack could all but feel the pure heat steaming angrily from his brother at Barbara's catty words. Pinching himself hard on the arm to prevent any of his own amused laughter from adding fuel to Cody's fire, Zack quickly stepped in front of his twin and cleared his throat.

"Anyway!" he spoke with enough sudden volume to distract Cody and Barbara from tearing each other's limbs off, "So, um... what else is new? What's everybody else from school been up to since we've been gone?"

Breathing a subtle sigh of relief as the war of words between his girlfriend and her ex continued to stubbornly fizzle out, Bob simply shrugged his shoulders, "Uh, not a whole lot, really. It's like nothing around this boring old place has changed at all," he said sourly, "Mark's still a weasily little geek, but he has somehow managed to upgrade to an even taller and better looking model girlfriend..."

"Haley's still painfully shy," Barbara joined in, "But did happen to find a very fetching paper bag to match her Homecoming dress last year."

"Oh, and Max," Bob added, snapping his fingers in a moment of realisation, "Max has gone down to California to spend the summer with her cousin."

Both Zack and Cody were driven to a surprised halt at the thought of their brunette, tomboy friend. Neither of them could barely remember the last time they had spoken to or caught up with Max, let alone hung in person and shot some hoops with her. Cody wondered if she still loved sports and dance just as much as she used to... Zack, however, could only wonder if maybe she was still single.

"Well, I guess I can picture Max having the time of her life in California," Cody mused out loud, "Beach volleyball, surfing, skateboarding... I'll bet she has her hands full."

As these words from his brother made Barbara noticeably roll her eyes at him, Zack waited with brewing impatience to see what kind of sniping little insult she would think up to throw at Cody next. But, instead, as the straight A student took Bob by the arm and began to make an exit for the both of them, Barbara simply offered a second unimpressed snort and a murmured tone of disgust.

"Yeah, or someone's got their hands full of _her_..."

A confused crinkle immediately fell into Zack's brow at the surprising sound of Barbara's statement. He repeated her words to himself in his head, carefully taking note of the vile tone and inappropriate phrasing she had used.

She may have been speaking as quietly as a mouse, but whatever it was that Barbara was trying to insinuate about Max - Zack had definitely heard it, loud and clear.

"What do mean by - "

"Anyway, come on, Bob," Barbara cut back in, ignoring the older twin, "We're going to be late for lunch with my parents."

"Okay, okay," Bob grumbled, conceding to the tight grip his girlfriend had around his forearm, "I guess I'll catch up with you guys later?"

"Uh..." Zack mumbled to himself. He took a short second to shake off the thought of whatever it was that Barbara had said about Max, before he awkwardly adjusted his helmet with a nod of his head, "Uh, yeah, man. For sure. We'll cya' later."

"Bye, Zack," Barbara said, offering him a sweet smile before she turned to Cody with an expressionless grimace, "Cody."

Scrunching his fists into frustrated balls where they sat in his pockets, but keeping his lips tightly shut, Cody swallowed his pride and merely watched as Bob and Barbara walked off up the street together, hand-in-hand. He didn't allow himself to stare for long, though, as the younger twin soon tore his vision away from his ex-girlfriend and forcefully shoved open the door to the Betsy Ross Stop 'n' Shop.

Following behind him, and just managing to catch the fast flying store door, Zack tucked his skateboard back under his arm and shook his head at his brother.

"You shouldn't let her get under your skin so easily, dude."

Cody gritted his teeth. He knew that Zack was right - it was completely obvious that he was right. Anyone else on the planet would give him the exact same advice. But simply ignoring Barbara was a hell of a lot more easy said than done.

The vicious cycle of snipes and insults between the young ex-couple actually lived a sort of bizarre existence. At the time, it hadn't been a particularly sour note that their relationship with one another had ended on. But a lot had changed since that day way back in the ninth grade. Barbara simply couldn't let go of how Cody had lied to her on the ship about dating Bailey, and Cody flat-out refused to see past the pure, vindictive betrayal that Barbara and Bob had cast upon him the second that he had left Boston.

Feeling his emotions of anger begin to bubble at the thought all over again, Cody hastily snatched up a shopping basket and dug down in his pocket for the short grocery list Carey had written for him, "Whatever," he grunted back to his brother, "I seriously can't wait to just get the heck out of Boston again."

Taken back slightly by the harsh tone from his twin, Zack paused for a second, frowning at Cody.

God only knew how much Cody missed Bailey, and how much he was taking those heavy-hearted emotions out on everything and everyone else in his life. But there was still a whole two and half months before the younger twin was moving to Washington - _if_ he was even moving to Washington at all. And Zack sure as hell wasn't prepared to put up with two and half months worth of moaning and complaining from his brother about being stuck in Boston.

And besides, that didn't happen to be the _only_ selfish reason Zack had for wanting Cody to get over his sour feelings and desperate longing for Bailey.

When it came right down to it - deep, _deep_ down to it - the older boy still wanted the chance to create just a few more memories with his twin before he completely vanished from his side for an entire two years.

But did that all mean that Zack was actually willing to admit it?

"Well, works for me, dude."

Not a chance.

Teasingly snatching away the vibrant, crisp looking red apple that Cody had just been about to place in a plastic bag, Zack tossed it up in the air and caught it once, grinning sarcastically at his brother.

"The sooner you're out of here, the sooner you start losing our little bet."

Rolling his eyes with a mocking expression, Cody grabbed the apple back from Zack's grasp. As he put three more in the plastic bag and then placed it all his his shopping basket, the younger boy nudged his twin in the shoulder and playfully barged past him to get to the next aisle.

"Yeah, yeah," Cody droned, a small smile crossing his face.

There was nothing like a couple of witty remarks from Zack to take Cody's mind off whatever or whoever it was that he happened to really be aggravated with at any given time. Friendships and relationships would continue to come and go for as long as he lived, but somehow - and no matter how annoying it may have been more than ninety-five per cent of the time - his twin was always going to be there.

At the same time, though, none of that neutralised the fact that Cody wanted to completely annihilate Zack in this bet, too.

"We'll see about that."

* * *

 **I'm back! Hello! :)**

 **Sorry it took me so ridiculously long to update this time around. The first two chapters for this story were re-writes of stuff I'd previously done, so having to come with a completely new and original chapter for this instalment apparently took a little more out of me than expected...**

 **I would love to hear what you all thought here! I've kind of already got something half-done for my next chapter, so hopefully my time between updates won't be as long :)**

 **Till next time guys,**

 **Reneyyyyyyyyy x**


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